People tell me, 'You better lose weight if you want to run for mayor.' I said, 'I got the Chris Christie look.'
— John Catsimatidis
I have a love factor with the minorities.
I'm tough, but I have a heart.
While in my late teens and in my 20s, I worked seven days a week, 20 hours a day. I worked my tail off.
My father died in '97. But at least he lived until 93, so he saw my success.
I'm not ashamed of being successful. You know, they criticized Romney for being ashamed of it. I think we've got to inspire our kids that we shouldn't be ashamed to be successful.
I was a Mitt Romney Republican because he was pro-business.
New York is for everybody; it's for the poor, it's for the middle-class, it's for the wealthy. We can't punish any one group and chase them away.
I respect John Kennedy for saying that he had a dream that we'd go to the moon before the end of the decade.
All my life, I've been winning, ok?
I could have beat Obama.
I'm not a Johnny-come-lately Jew. I've been around. I watch out for the Jews; I watch out for the Catholics.
I was a Clinton Democrat for twenty years.
I put $5 million into the real-estate business when the world was coming to an end, and three years later, by 1980, I woke up and was worth a hundred. That's a lot of money back then.
Nobody destroys people - people destroy themselves, and it's very, very sad.
We have to draw the line someplace with all the pesticides being used by the farmers.
What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world.
Am I a Republican? Yes. Am I a Democrat? Yes. Am I a conservative? Yes. Am I a liberal? Yes.
I believe that all people that are successful should pay back their cities, their states, their towns, our country.
I love people. I enjoy people.
America always recovers.
My life would be better without Gristedes.
I am a real New Yorker... I didn't go to Harvard, I didn't go to Yale... I rooted for the Yankees; I didn't root for the Boston Red Sox.
New York never felt the recession. New York never felt a depression.
I want to inspire people.
I'm not a Mike Bloomberg billionaire.
I'm a visionary. I'm not a maintenance person.
I just want to reflect the respect I have for animals.
It is tough that a lot of kids have single-family homes.
I promoted myself as a fusion ticket. I was running as a Republican liberal.
One mentor I had taught me that people do what you inspect, not necessarily what you expect. In other words, if nobody is watching, there will be some slack off.
What's worse than getting divorced?
As mayor, I would support law enforcement, not knock it down.
When the commodities go up and the cost of transportation is going up, and the value of the dollar is going down, it's all going to translate to an 8 to 10 percent rise in food prices.
Pizza is no longer on my diet.
I made a ton of money.
Material things don't matter.
You have to work at everything. You've got to make it work.
I'm a Bill Clinton social Republican.
I grew up on 135th Street. I grew up on the poor side of New York. I grew up in Harlem.
I think the rich should pay more in taxes - I agree with that 100 percent - but everybody should feel the pain a little bit.
Bill Clinton told me that when he was 14, he shook John Kennedy's hand, and that inspired him to be president.
I care about making New York better.
I could be like Joe Kennedy and say, 'My kids are going to run for president!'
Everyone - whether it's the Jews, the Greeks, the Catholics - everybody is entitled to religious beliefs and entitled to their traditions.
We are teaching kids to fail. We need to teach our kids to succeed.
I believe business has to do well and that the surrounding communities do well.
There are two New Yorks - Manhattan and everything else. I'm a Manhattanite. I feel sorry for those people who aren't.
The Fresh Direct model doesn't work.
The media doesn't always reflect reality.
